A Bad Day at the Job Market: Video Killed the Interview Star

It was a red letter day for Lyle. Since graduating college, he’d been living at home and working at the local diner to save money. But he was finally ready to say goodbye to his parents’ couch and make his way to the big city. And today he had his first job interview.

Lyle had always been a diligent student, and his interview preperation was no different. He had done his homework, knew the ins and outs of the company, and spent multiple hours practicing interview questions. Even though this was an early stage phone interview, Lyle was determined to nail it.

With a few minutes to spare before the interview, Lyle pulled up the email with the interview invitation for one last once-over. His jaw dropped. “No no no no no no no no,” he panicked. You see, Lyle hadn’t read the fine print at the end of the email – the very important fine print that said that this was a Skype video interview, not a phone interview.

This was not good. Lyle may have been prepared before, but now he was in his childhood bedroom wearing an old Miller High Life t-shirt, and no matter where he sat, the giant Borat poster somehow always made its way into the screen view.

Lyle knew none of this was acceptable, so he grabbed a new shirt from the floor, bolted downstairs, kicked his Dad out of the kitchen, and set up shop just in time. Unfortunately, in all of the commotion, Lyle lost his composure. He was so flustered that all his hard work went out the window and he stumbled and fumbled his way through the interview. Plus, it was abundantly clear in video that his shirt was on inside out – a detail Lyle didn’t notice until after the fact.

Needless to say, Lyle didn’t advance to the next stage of the interview process. But he received a valuable reminder in reading comprehension. Just like recipes, test questions, and board games, you’ve got to read your instructions (and emails!) carefully, and read them all the way through. Better luck next time, Lyle!